(A/N: Their relationship dynamic progresses and doesn't stay exactly like it is in the start)

In his old life, he was an assassin, invisible, efficient, and utterly alone.
His only escape came from the pages of a fantasy novel, Crown of Thorns, and the character no one else seemed to understand: Lady Evelina D’Arclight, the proud and brilliant villainess fated to lose everything.

After his death, he wakes up inside that very story, not as a hero, but as Cael Arden, a student at Eryndor Royal Academy. The world is just as he remembers it, right down to the woman destined to fall.

But this time, he’s not a bystander.
With a lifetime of deadly skills and the knowledge of what’s to come, Cael sets out to rewrite the story itself, to protect Evelina, rise through the academy’s ruthless hierarchy, and change a fate written in stone.

As alliances form and secrets surface, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur.
And in a world built on power and prophecy, he’ll prove that even a villainess deserves her happy ending.

I looked at the small glass pane in the door as rays of morning sunlight filtered into the isolated training room, and the light bulb switched off in time with the academy's morning bells.


The momentary break was enough for my mind to finally realize its exhaustion, my legs trembling the moment my skin felt the small warmth of the sun.


I collapsed to the ground on my back, staring at the ceiling in deep thought.


My body itself felt great, as if I could punch through concrete and completely shatter it into pieces, and I bet I could do it too.


The sheer rinse and repeat of healing magic made me stronger than when I started.


No amount of recovery spells could freshen something like that after thousands of stupid solved formulas.


Chapter 61 - An Annoying Phoenix...?